


Ante Up

by down



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: Crack, F/M, so much crack, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-20
Updated: 2012-11-20
Packaged: 2017-11-19 03:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/568777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At one particularly loud thump, Ferio huffed a laugh, looking back in the direction of the ruckus. “This time will <em>definitely</em> end in an explosion or in someone’s bed. I bet bed. Any takers?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ante Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Milieva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/gifts).



> FOR MILIEVA. Because of things and reasons?

oOo

Loud bangs and clanging noises echoed from the open windows of Clef’s study, and made their way beyond the locked doors, down the hallway, to the lounge where several of the Castle’s inhabitants frequently gathered in their free time. The sound of the Guru and the Knight of Water arguing was familiar to everyone by now. 

At one particularly loud thump, Ferio huffed a laugh, looking back in the direction of the ruckus. “This time will _definitely_ end in an explosion or in someone’s bed. I bet bed. Any takers?” 

Caldina blinked at him, and smiled sharply. “What are the stakes?” She asked, and Ferio hadn’t meant it seriously, but if she was willing to place money on it then he certainly was – they had bet on some far more random things over the past few years. The rest of the room sighed and ignored them as they got down to negotiation. 

Caldina sat back with a smile when they had agreed terms, then frowned. “How will we settle this, though? They aren’t going to announce it at breakfast.” 

Ferio thought about it, and shrugged. “Eh, if they aren’t saying anything we’ll go find Clef tomorrow. If anything _does_ happen, I bet he’ll let something slip. He doesn’t have much practise hiding things like that.” 

“Not tonight?” 

“Nah.” He grinned. “We should give them time to have some fun before we go pestering them!” 

oOo

Not far away, Clef’s study was in chaos, books littering the floor and a whole avalanche of paper where it had been shoved off his desk to make room for the two people now tangled on it. 

“ _Yes_ here, _yes_ now-“ Umi was saying, and she kissed Clef again, pulling him close; he swayed into her now without a fight. Then she tore her mouth away and _pushed_ at him until he left off tracing the curve of her neck. 

“What? You were only just telling me to _go on-_ “

“Clef- _Clef_. What do you people even use for contraception?” She said, and his brain stalled out on him, entirely caught up in the way they were pressed together, Umi arching off his desk into his touch. “With _not getting pregnant_ , Clef! How do you stop it?” 

He caught up, and closed his eyes and groaned. “You don’t have anything, and _I_ don’t – wait, wait.” 

“What?” she demanded, as he leant closer over her to grab the nearest pen, biting the cap to hold it steady as he twisted the pen out one-handed while he started yanking his shirt off with the other. Umi reached to help him; the fabric dropped to the floor, and he dropped the cap somewhere. 

“ _Mage_.” He said, with a grin, and with the long sleeves out of the way he scribbled a long string of words on the inside of his elbow, muttering as he did so. The spell ran a chill through his body for one startling moment as it kicked in, and he swayed down over Umi on a gasp before it settled back into him. He met her wide-eyed gaze with only the faintest of blushes. “It should be fine like that, but it is more certain if both of us…” 

“Go for it.” She said, breathless, then “no, not my arm, people will see – we don’t all walk about covered up to the wrist all the time! H- here.” And then she sat far enough up on the desk to pull her own top off, leaving her in only her strangely manufactured underwear and the short folds of her skirt, looking away from him. She tapped the smooth skin just below the curve of her left breast. 

He dragged the pen across her skin with shaking hands, handwriting worse than ever as he whispered the spell which the words would hold in place even while they were- distracted, and as he finished he bowed his head and kissed the space next to the ink. Umi shuddered, a cut off gasp in her throat, then she was pulling him further up onto the desk, and the pen clattered down to the floor, ignored. 

oOo

It was the middle of the next afternoon before Clef had time to set his room back to rights – and not just because the morning had involved an extended… distraction, when Umi dragged him into one of the smaller lounges which were empty most of the day. The spell was good until the ink faded away, and he had used something more permanent than was wise in the rush of the day before – it would take a while to leave their skin. And if Umi seemed interested in making use of that fact… 

He was still looking for the lid to that pen, in fact, when there was a knock on the door. “Yes?” He called, and Ferio and Caldina both wandered in. “Can I help?” He straightened from his crouch on the floor, dusting his hands off – the space under his desk really needed cleaning more frequently, even if it was usually inaccessible behind the stray piles of books he forgot to reshelve. 

“Looking for something, Clef?” Ferio asked, brightly. “…Have you been redecorating? There seems to be less in here than usual.” 

“Just tidying. It seemed an opportune moment…” 

“Did Umi make that much of a mess in here yesterday, then?” Caldina asked, grinning, and Clef knew he was going red, could do nothing to stop it. 

“She did, ah, knock over a few piles of books? There was a lot of dust-“ 

“It’s taken you this long to tidy up?” Ferio said, whistling. “Nearly a whole day? That’s impressive – what the heck did you two do yesterday?” 

“Ah.” He bit his lip, hard, looking away desperately for some distraction – or at least something to hide his face behind. “…Throw the contents of the room at each other?” 

Ferio laughed, and Clef saw him dropping into the window seat from the corner of his eye, as he pulled a book off one shelf and replaced it on the next one down, belatedly realising it was one of a set, and the matched bindings plain to everyone. “You really do get under each other’s skin, don’t you. What is it about Umi which sets you off?” 

“ _Everything_.” Clef said, on a laugh he couldn’t help. He shook his head, and kept his attention on the shelves. “Was there some reason the two of you came to find me?” 

“We thought we should check the walls hadn’t started cracking after your arguing.” Caldina announced, too close, and he turned round with a yelp to find her staring at the books he was systematically disordering. “…Interesting filing system you’re using here, Guru.” 

“W-well, I’m trying to change things about some. No harm trying something new.” 

“Or even things you haven’t done for a while!” Caldina said, with a straight face, and he was getting _very suspiciou_ s about this conversation – more so when he looked to see Ferio fighting a laugh. 

“The walls are just fine, as you can see.” He growled at them, aware his face was getting hotter still. “Now then, if you haven’t got anything important to ask me, would you mind letting me get on with something _useful_?” 

“Well, I guess you need to catch up, if you’ve been distracted all this time.” Ferio conceded, grinning, but at least he was getting up. “Come on, Caldina. We’ll let Clef get on with his… trials.” 

As soon as the door shut, Clef dropped into his chair, hand over his face, and tried to stop the rueful laugh which spilled from his chest. 

oOo

“I win.” Ferio told Caldina, as they ducked into one of the Castle storerooms, out of the way. “You can pay up – I’ve never seen Clef that flustered in my _life_ , they definitely slept together.” 

“They did not!” Caldina frowned at him. “I spoke to the cleaners already, they were sorting the bedrooms all afternoon, no one went _near_ the Guru’s suite. They wouldn’t use the Knights’s room.” 

“So? That just means they didn’t get out of the study!” Ferio said, trying not to think about that too hard – it was one thing to know what a friend did in the privacy of his own rooms, another thing entirely to wonder what they might have done where you had to have serious weekly meetings. 

“The bet was about ending up in _bed_.” Caldina pointed out. “There isn’t one of those in the study.” 

“The bed was figurative! Come on, that’s cheating!” She pouted at him, and Ferio crossed his arms and glared back. “If you get out of this on that kind of technicality, I demand my money back over that thing with Lantis and the bath, because the NSX really only has _showers-_ “ 

“Fine!” Caldina snapped, tapping a foot against the floor. “You still don’t have any proof- wait.” She frowned at the row of shelves behind him. “Huh. They _can’t_ have slept together. I did inventory this morning, none of the safety potion is missing.” 

“What?” He spun about, and sure enough the shelf with the usual pale-green vials was full from end to end. “But – uh. They might have had something else already, the potion’s not the _only_ means of contraception.” 

“It’s the only one which still works _afterwards_. Unless you think that Clef was keeping that kind of thing in his desk?” 

Ferio choked on a laugh at that. “If he did, he’d never find it. But Tokyo has other things, Umi could have-“ 

“In that outfit?” Caldina raised an eyebrow, and Ferio slumped back against the shelves. 

"What are you two talking about?" Presea asked, walking in, making Caldina and Ferio both jump. She paused at the guilty expressions they were both wearing. "...I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" 

"Just - trying to settle a bet?" Ferio said, with a grin. 

Presea frowned. "A bet? In here? What kind of bet is this?" 

"Umi and the old-man mage!" Caldina burst out, frowning at the all-present bottles. She'd been almost _certain_ that they'd actually - not that she was admitting it to Ferio - then she remembered who she was talking to, and winced. Ah, well, too late to be tactful. And when she turned back, Presea didn't look hurt. More... amused, actually. 

"So why are you in - oh. The contraceptive potions? But that can't be proof, surely. Anyone could have taken one." 

"Not without Caldina or I to get them into this cupboard, there aren't. Well, the healers all have access, but they ask when they need more and why would Clef need to get them to get him one? He'd come here, surely." Ferio pointed out. "...Not that it matters, given none of them are missing." 

“Well, maybe Umi’s taking those tablets Fuu was explaining the other day – you know the ones, Caldina. She’s taking them for her health, but they also work to stop pregnancy…” 

“Oh!” Caldina blinked, then turned on Ferio. “Why didn’t you remind me about those? Your girlfriend takes them!” 

“I didn’t know they did that!” He protested. “We haven’t actually – yet – it’s not something we’ve discussed!” He flushed, to the visible amusement of both women. “…How do we find out if Umi’s taking them, anyway? Should I ask Fuu?” 

Caldina shook her head. “She’ll suspect something if you ask. I’ll do it, you wait here for me to report back.” 

“How do I know you’ll tell me the truth, if I’m not there to hear? We’ve got money riding on this.” Ferio protested. 

Presea raised a hand. “I’ll go along as witness.” They stared at her, and she shrugged. “You have me interested now. I hope she _has_ caught him. Watching the two of them never getting anywhere has grown torturous.” 

oOo

Fuu blinked as Caldina descended on her in the gardens with Presea in tow. She was sat with a book in the shade of a tree, Hikaru and Umi having abandoned her for something more active to pass the time. 

“Fuu! We’ve got a question for you – got a minute?” 

“Yes, of course. How may I help?” She smiled, and Caldina collapsed next to her, while Presea folded down more neatly onto the grass. 

“It’s about those tablets you take – we were wondering how they work. If we could develop something similar here?” Caldina said, and there was something strange in her expression which Fuu noted with interest, especially in combination with Presea’s silence. She told them as much as she knew about the methods of hormone control, though, and how things could go wrong. 

She was almost certain Caldina had lied about their reasoning when she didn’t seem so interested in the flaws. Then she said “So, are you the only one of you three who takes them? Or does Umi – or Hikaru?” 

“…No, just me.” Fuu smiled politely again, suspicion confirmed. “Why do you ask?” 

“Well, it seems so convenient, why wouldn’t they?” Caldina shrugged. “Oh, well. Thanks for talking to us!” 

Fuu eyed them as they left, and sighed. At least Umi hadn’t told her anything. Even if Ferio asked her outright, she still wouldn’t have to resort to lying. 

oOo

“No luck for you.” Caldina reported, trudging back into the storeroom alone – Presea had been found by an apprentice as they walked back, and abandoned their investigation for _work_. “And you can ask Presea if you don’t trust me.” 

Ferio waved a hand. “Fine, but I’ve been thinking, sat here. Clef’s the one who usually makes this stuff, right? That’s why we have it in the storeroom before the healers take it. He could have made her some, or replaced the bottle…”

“Uh uh.” Caldina was smirking at him. “It takes three days, and they all have the date on them. Pay up, Prince! I admit, I thought she really might have got the mage to let go this time-“ 

“ _Mage!_ ” Ferio snapped, bolting upright. “Clef’s a mage!” 

“…Yes?” 

“There’s a spell he could have used – he could have done that in the study, all it needs is a pen, he’s certainly got enough of them!” 

“A pen? What kind of spell is this – does it leave proof we can find?” 

Ferio grinned, showing his teeth. “You _bet_ it does. Listen, you usually all go to the baths in the evenings, right? Well…”

oOo

Early next day, they were back in the same cupboard, now their unofficial meeting ground. “Umi refused to come to the baths with me and the others last night,” Caldina admitted. “But I was teasing her about her figure last time, so that might not be the reason? I dunno how to check, though. Unless Fuu’s seen anything?” 

Ferio shook his head, dejected. “If she has, she isn’t saying anything.” He reported, mournfully. “Clef never uses the main baths anyway, so that means nothing. I haven’t even seen him roll his sleeves up this week! Not even when he was… huh.” He blinked. “…Not even when he was making potions yesterday evening. Which is strange, because he _always_ rolls his sleeves back them, in case they get in the way.” 

“…I guess we just have to get _his_ shirt off, then!” Caldina declared, brightly. 

“How do you plan on doing that?” Ferio watched her grin with a sudden sense of foreboding. 

“You’ll see. Come on, Prince, we’ll be late for breakfast.” And Caldina bounced out of the room, far too cheerful. 

oOo

By the time Clef wandered in to breakfast, there was only one seat left at the table where his friends were sat, between Ferio and Caldina. He winced, thinking back to the day before – but the teapot was waiting just before him, and Umi was glancing up, with a smile for him. He dropped into the seat, and tried to ignore his neighbours. 

That worked for about half a minute, until Caldina suddenly made a flailing gesture, and spilled her drink over his arm. 

“Oh, sorry, Clef.” Caldina said, grabbing hold of his sleeve – now sopping wet with the juice. He stared at it blankly, and didn’t react swiftly enough when she said “well! You should get this in the wash right away, or it’ll stain! It was my fault, let me-“ and began to _undress him_. 

“Hey!” He snapped, belatedly fighting to keep his top on, but she’d already got the back up over his head, blinding him as that pulled the front up too and his arms with it. Then he heard Ferio say “she’s right! Here, I’ll help-“ and between the two of them they avoided his struggling and dragged the shirt right off his head, leaving him glaring through the tangled mess of his hair as they pulled it right down to his hands, baring his torso – and his arms. 

“My, my, Guru.” Caldina said, utterly failing to sound scandalised as she held his arm up to examine the slowly fading letters. “Such an interesting piece of artwork!” 

Clef glared at her. 

“And it means _I win_.” Ferio said, smugly, sitting back in his seat. Caldina ignored Clef entirely now to pout at Ferio; his arms free, Clef pulled the top off his hands, and balled it up. 

“ _Technically_ we don’t know _who_ -“ Caldina said. 

Clef threw the ball of material at her, exasperated. She caught it with a laugh, just as he, they, heard Hikaru say “oh!” further down the table. “Clef’s got the same writing as you, Umi! Only it’s on his arm. Is it some kind of spell, then?” 

He looked across, helplessly, and met Umi’s eyes. She looked torn between dropping her head to the table and laughing, or reaching out and hitting Hikaru – who was beaming far too brightly to be as oblivious as Clef had assumed. Eagle’s sense of humour was a _bad influence_ , Clef thought, wryly, while Caldina pouted harder one side of him, and Ferio beamed on the other, the whole table was staring and he was _half undressed_. 

“There. _Proof!_ You owe me!” Ferio crowed. 

“If you ask me, there’s something very very wrong with people taking so much interest in someone else’s life.” Clef ground out. 

“It’s _nosy_.” Umi agreed, loudly- and part of him relaxed, because she sounded neither angry nor upset. 

“Unnaturally nosy!” 

“…You might even call it _perverted_.” Umi managed, and Clef had to bite down hard on a laugh, couldn’t help the grin he flashed down the table at her – and this wasn’t stopping people staring, not least Ferio, who was morphing from smugness into something startled. 

But Caldina wasn’t fazed. “We’re curious about the, uh, _wellbeing_ of our very dear friends, and you accuse us of being perverse! I feel hurt!” 

“You’ve _undressed me at breakfast!_ ” 

“What, you’d rather we did it some other time?” Caldina grinned, and shrugged when everyone started staring at her instead. “What? I never said I _wasn’t-_ “ 

“That’s enough!” Umi snapped, standing, and Clef rocked back in his seat to watch his Knight, her temper flaring beautifully, and for once he wasn’t the cause. “You want proof enough to satisfy your curiosity? Here!” And she stormed across, and then she was _in Clef’s lap_ , hands caught in his hair, kissing him as fiercely and deeply as she could. Clef couldn’t stop the moan she dragged from him – couldn’t keep his arms from tugging her closer as heat sparked though him like lightning down his spine, waking every nerve. 

Umi hissed and pressed closer, knees falling to either side of his hips, just barely fitting in the chair; he dropped one hand to her thigh, steadying her, and his fingers skimmed the edge of her skirt. She bit him in response, teeth catching on his lower lip hard enough to sting. He managed not to yelp, just, but then her tongue ran over the tender skin and he had no idea what to call the noise he made then, hand sliding further up her leg-

“ _Uh-_ “ He heard, through the rushing in his head, and remembered their audience with a start. He flung his hand out blindly, reaching with his power for the familiar weight of his staff as it rested in the corner of the room. It flew to him, and he heard Ferio’s startled yell as he dodged it a moment before the wood landed square in Clef’s palm. He wrapped his other arm tight about Umi’s waist and broke the kiss to mutter a warning, and the spellwords, and then-

They landed with a thump on his bed. He’d been thinking about a soft landing, nothing more – he wouldn’t have presumed – and there was a moment when Umi just blinked down at him. Then she chuckled, sliding her hands down over his bare chest. 

“ _Handy_.” She whispered, her breath hot against his mouth, and then she kissed him again. 

His hands were both on her legs now, pushing the flimsy cloth higher. “I think you’re wearing too much. It isn’t fair.” He muttered, in the gap between kisses, and she laughed again. 

“I agree.” Her top dropped to the floor somewhere beyond the bed, and she unbuttoned her skirt, shifted to kick it off, then went for Clef’s belt. “Your turn!” 

He dropped flat on his back so he could shove his trousers off and then pull her down again, the two of them a tangle of bare limbs. “…You realise everyone knows what we’re doing right now?” 

Umi rolled her eyes at him. “So what? Nosy perverts.” He laughed in spite of himself, the memory of their first meeting clashing with the reality of her here with him, like this. Umi grinned, and curled forwards to kiss him again. “There’s only one pervert I’m interested in, and he’s right here.” 

oOo

Down in the dining hall, there were a great many people staring at Clef’s now-empty chair. “That, uh.” Ferio started, blinking. “That..” 

“That was no more than you deserved, teasing them both like that!” Fuu scolded him, and it would have been more effective if her face wasn’t stained a brilliant red. “It’s taken them years to – to trust each other enough to get here, and you wouldn’t let them have any privacy!” 

“Not sure we’re the ones who tossed privacy out the window just now.” Ferio muttered, eyes still wide, and Fuu was _so cute_ when she was glaring at him-

“That was _hot_.” Caldina declared, fanning herself with one of the fans she usually summoned for magic. “You win the bet, Prince. I don’t think I mind, just this once – has anyone seen LaFarga?” And she walked from the room with a lazy sway to her hips, in search of her partner. 

Ferio dropped his head to the table, and laughed. 

oOo

end

oOo


End file.
